As Diana Douglas Darrid sits in her elegant Los Angeles home looking through family photo albums and reminiscing, the resemblance to her eldest son is striking. But unlike Michael and her ex-husband Kirk, Bermuda-born Diana seems to have escaped the double-edged sword that is fame.

Diana and Kirk were married for eight years, until 1951, and she is very close to both Michael and her other son Joel, who is a producer. She talks to Michael nearly every day and relishes her role as grandmother to the latest addition to the Douglas dynasty, Michael and Catherine Zeta Jones’ son Dylan.

In a week that has seen her son and his wife very much in the spotlight, Diana tells us, “I adore being a grandmother. Dylan is a very chubby, happy baby and laughs a lot. I was having dinner with them a few days ago when he said his very fist word – ‘Dada’. Michael was simply ecstatic. And Cameron (Michael’s son by his former wife Diandra) is now 22 and very good company. He has a great sense of humour and very loving heart. He adores babysitting his brother.

When asked about her acting career, Diana replies that she is much more excited about her second profession: writing. “After the 1994 earthquake my house in the San Fernando Valley was damaged and Michael, Joel and I shared a house. We spent months reminiscing and Michael asked me to write a book about my life and family, for Cameron. It was published as In The Wings in 1998.

For the full interview with Diana Douglas Darrid and a look at her never-before-seen family album, the new issue of HELLO! is on sale now.